Doncic struggles through stomach trouble on lackluster 17-point night as Lakers fall behind T-wolves

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Last spring, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals with a series-ending victory at Target Center.

This trip to Minnesota for Doncic in the NBA playoffs is off to an awfully rough start.

Doncic managed to play 40 minutes with a stomach illness in Minnesota’s 116-104 victory over the Lakers on Friday night in Game 3 of the first-round series, finishing with just 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting with a team-high five turnovers.

Doncic, who had eight assists and seven rebounds, was clearly not himself from the start. Lakers coach J.J. Redick said Doncic was vomiting all afternoon before the late game that tipped off at 8:54 p.m.

“He hasn’t been feeling well for the last 24 hours. I don’t know how much he slept last night. He didn’t feel well last night,” Redick said. “He was really under the weather.”

Doncic didn’t start the second half, checking in during the first minute of the third quarter. A little after that, he had the ball poked out of his hands by Rudy Gobert in the backcourt, beginning a fast break the Timberwolves finished with a three-point play thanks to a foul on Doncic during one of several sloppy sequences for the five-time All-NBA pick whose shocking trade from the Mavericks to the Lakers was the biggest story in a season full of twists and turns throughout the league.

“He gave everything he had tonight. He played 39, 40 minutes. He did everything he could do to help us win. We had opportunities,” said Austin Reaves, who had 20 points for the Lakers. “We just couldn’t get it done.”

Doncic was receiving postgame treatment and not made available to the media.

The Target Center crowd that watched Doncic dismantle Minnesota’s league-leading defense for Dallas in the conference finals last spring was delighted to see him struggle. He didn’t have much opportunity to play the villain, struggling to create clean shots and hardly talking much trash.

Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota’s ace defender, made it tough on Doncic to both shoot and handle the ball. Anthony Edwards threw down a dunk over him in the third quarter.

“I was just picking him up every time. I couldn’t tell that he was going through anything,” said McDaniels, who scored 30 points for his career playoffs high.

The Wolves wisely hunted Doncic on the other end of the floor, too, trying to exploit the weaknesses for a player whose defense is not an asset on a night when he clearly didn’t have all of his strength to begin with.

So what does this mean for the rest of the series now that the Lakers are trailing 2-1 and Doncic has only one full day to rest before an afternoon tip-off for Game 4?

“Hopefully, whatever’s going on, he feels better on Sunday,” Redick said. “I’m not a doctor.”

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA